What was the point of making the new live-action/CGI Sonic the Hedgehog movie coming out?

You didn't answer the question. What was the deal with the Sonic comics?

Are the comics still popular?

Also should be mentioned that nearly every American film based on a video game ends up being terrible, regardless if a story is made. This is mainly due to the game publishers not having an active role in the film's development, as well as there being difficulties in changing mediums.

The only ones that are even decent are Tomb Raider, Detective Pikachu and The Angry Birds Movie, and even those are up for debate if they are good.

I have no idea about the comics. I have never read any.

Those comics, however, were not popular with the general audience, but it had a vocal fanbase. It recently changed publishers, moving from Archie Comics to IDW. I have mentioned this to you in a previous thread/question.

CGI was in movies for awhile. It's fitting you name drop the buttugly, Razzie terrible Flintstones movie and The Mask which hasn't aged well either (visually). But what tech existed was very likely too expensive for a studio's taste when possibly adapting a not so guaranteed box office success that could have been a Sonic movie.

Did anyone say "To make a lot of money, duh." yet?

First reply by me.


Figures.

Yep. But let me be the first to predict that it will flop catastrophically. A likely first Razzie nomination for the already not too strong actor, James Marsden.

At best case, it's likely to not do any better than Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019) which made a small profit.

The idea was good, initial efforts were terrible, more work proved better.

Box Office will be up in the air. Who would have thought Detective Pikachu would have been as big as it was? $432B was pretty good.

It made about a $100 to 130M in profit off of that $432M box office turnout.

Pokémon is huge (as with the success of Pokémon Go). I haven't read the Detective Pikachu manga or seen it's series but I've heard of it's rabid fanbase online. I was expecting it to come closer to a $1 billion but I think the filmmaker's made a muddled mess of a film which didn't draw a larger crowd outside of the Pokémon base.

Keep in mind that DP had Ryan Reynolds ... while Sonic has James Marsden. I don't see Jim Carrey being as big a box office draw as Ryan Reynolds these days. He's made some questionable movie calls and hasn't been in the public eye for quite awhile.

Actually what I said is wrong. Disney's Tron movie from the '80s is the earliest film I can think of that had CGI-animted characters in it.

If Sonic fandom has dwindled, I presume considerably, since the franchise's heyday in the '90s, and the games aren't selling as well as they used to, then making and putting out the new movie just seems like a big waste.

I get that Sega wants to do what it can to stir up interest in Sonic, but look at Sonic Boom for example. This cartoon series was out recently on Cartoon Network and it was not even that popular.

I know about the Super Mario Bros. anime film that came out in the late '80s and was released theatrically in Japan. How popular was that? I would like to think that film had somewhat of a big cult following in Japan.

Did the two Wreck-It-Ralph movies do well in theaters? What about Pixels?

I'm going to say the animated Super Mario film from the 80s was not popular in the US, considering I have never heard of it until today.

The Wreck It Ralph films were financially successful, together earning $1 billion worldwide. The second film made more money, partially because Disney promoted the fact that all of their Disney Princesses would be in the film.

Pixels was a modest success ($244 million worldwide) , though it received poor reviews. Not many people care for the film since its release.

Illumination Entertainment (creators of Despicable Me, Minions, Sing, and Secret Life of Pets) has announced plans to produce a Super Mario animated film for 2022.
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/super-mario-bros-animated-movie-illumination-1203021006/

It appears that Sonic The Hedgehog is predicted to have a $40+ million opening during President's Day weekend (Feb 14-17).
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sonic-hedgehog-tracking-40m-45m-us-opening-1272313

Which is pretty good, considering it is opening against the much more anticipated Birds of Prey.

Apparently, Sonic The Hedgehog is being seen as the family friendly choice in theaters in February, when compared to Birds of Prey (R rated for violence and language) and Fantasy Island (PG-13 horror film).

Don't forget Valentine's Day An ideal romantic tryst.

There is the romance film The Photograph being widely released on Feb 14.

I'm sure it will do well for audiences who don't care for Sonic or superhero films.

Hi Reb. I meant how popular was the anime Super Mario Bros. movie in Japan?

I know an animated American Super Mario Bros. film is coming out soon.

They made a film adaptation of Fantasy Island, the classic '80s TV show?

The film is a horror re-imagining of the original Fantasy Island series


From what I can find on the Super Mario Bros anime film, it was not popular in Japan either. It had a small theatrical run, was only released on VHS (which are now hard to find and expensive) and was never released on DVD, Blu-Ray, or On Demand. There are, however, unauthorized uploads on Youtube.

A horror reimagining of the original Fantasy Island series. That's disgusting and disturbing.

Are you familiar with the show at all?